


The Curiosity of a Spiderling

by e_n_silvermane



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Loki Gets a Hug, Peter's just a curious child don't @ me, Thor is trying to be a good bro, brotherly/familial angst, in which Loki is kept in a containment unit in Stark Tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 17:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_n_silvermane/pseuds/e_n_silvermane
Summary: With all the hushed-up talk of Thor's brother going on, Peter naturally becomes very interested in this person that nobody, not even the god of thunder himself, will let him come into contact with. What's up with that? Well, he's going to find out, one way or another.





	The Curiosity of a Spiderling

**Author's Note:**

> This one's been in my prompts list for a while. Do tell me if there's anything I can improve on, or if the characters are OOC. Let me know what you think :)

“Please, Mister Thor?” Peter begged as he trotted alongside the Asgardian god. “I promise I won’t do anything mean. I’m polite, aren’t I? And I promise I won’t make him mad. He doesn’t have a reason to hurt me and I won’t give him one!”  
Thor sighed, coming to a stop in the little side hall that led to Loki’s...well, he’d call it a room, except that it was more of a...containment unit. “Peter, you don’t understand. My brother does not need a reason to harm anyone. Tony will be outraged if he lays so much as a fingertip on you, and so I cannot let you see him, now or ever.” There was a pause. “I’m sorry.”  
Peter dug the toe of his Converse into the floor, accidentally left a black scuff mark on the tile and promptly stepped on it to hide it from view. “Well, um, Mister Thor, I know Mister Stark worries about me an awful lot, which is more than he should, but…”  
“Child,” Thor said with exasperation. “Loki is dangerous. He’s tried to kill me more times than I can even remember, and that doesn’t account for every other life he’s attempted to thieve.”  
“I’d be a little upset too, if I were that lonely.” The brown-haired boy mumbled, half wanting to be heard, half wishing he knew when to shut up. Of course Thor wouldn’t want him around a murderer. And of course this did nothing to deter him. He was going to see Loki if it killed him—which was slowly but surely sounding more and more like a real possibility.  
“Stay. Here.” The god of thunder commanded, and then continued on to bring his little brother a nice lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich, a large cluster of grapes, some water and a salad. Oh, and cookies. Peter had snuck those onto the tray when Thor wasn’t paying attention. Or rather, when Thor was pretending not to pay attention—he’d let Peter get away with some things.  
As you may have guessed, Peter Parker was not at all interested in staying glued to the spot until Thor returned. Instead he followed the god silently down the hall and creeped up onto the doorframe when he stepped into the unit. Some brief conversation was heard as he swung himself upside down from the top of the doorway to look in and see the mystery man he’d been told so many evil things about.  
He wasn’t expecting the intensity of Loki’s bright green eyes to be the first thing he saw, but when they made eye contact, he couldn’t look away. The man was sitting on the edge of the bed in the middle of the room, staring up at him with some unvoiced conviction. Loki, as it turned out, was quite the opposite of Thor. His long, inky black hair fell in ringlets to graze his shoulders, his burning emerald stare was entrancing—and he was more sullen looking, definitely with a darker aura than his brother’s earthy-toned chipper air. Peter tilted his head to the side and Loki’s stare followed him. There was something weird about the way he moved; like a snake waiting to strike.  
“What are you looking at, brother?”  
The stare relaxed and his glittering green eyes turned upwards to the god standing in front of him. “Nothing.”  
Peter breathed a quiet sigh of relief and, without making a sound, crept into the room on the ceiling in true spider fashion. The light fixture in the middle proved to be a good vantage point, although it creaked a little as he settled on it. He winced as Thor perked up, clearly having heard the noise.  
“Can I eat now?” Loki asked, wiggling around in his straitjacket.  
Having to turn his attention back to his brother, Thor nodded and went around back of Loki to unfasten his restraints. Curious, Peter leaned in closer to see little sparks of blue...blue something. Blue something that appeared to be loosening the buckles and straps on the back of the jacket. Magic? Probably. Otherwise, Peter assumed, Loki would’ve blown this popsicle stand already.  
“Thank you.” Loki, though still holding his chin high (very princely of him, Peter thought to himself), looked a bit weakened and downcast.  
“Of course. How are you, dear brother?” Thor sat next to him on the bed and watched carefully as Loki sipped at the water and ate a few spinach leaves from his salad.  
“Well, I’m hungry for once.” His stare had turned dull. “And everything here is the same. If I’m not crazy already, I might as well be now. Especially with you asking me how I am. Every. Single. Day.” The aggression in his voice was clear, but Peter noticed with a sad twinge in his heart that the shakiness of his hand and the slouched, defeated posture he had didn’t quite match up to his cynical tone.  
“I ask because I care, Loki.”  
At this, Loki scoffed harshly. “Don’t bother.”  
They sat for a moment in silence. Loki continued to eat, daring to take a nibble of the cheese and bread.  
“I will come to collect your tray in half an hour. Eat what you can manage.” Having said that, Thor got up to leave, and then turned to place a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I do still love you. You know you could be the most difficult person in the world and it wouldn’t change a thing. You’re still my brother. You’re still my Loki.”  
Peter had nearly forgotten how to breathe, being completely enraptured with this melodramatic development progressing right before his eyes. Loki said nothing, emerald eyes searing imaginary holes into the cool steel of the lunch tray. Thor left quietly and closed the door behind him.  
There was a moment of silence.  
“You’re the spiderling,” Loki murmured, gazing up at Peter, who swung himself down from the light fixture rather ungracefully. “And you shouldn’t be here. So why are you?”  
“Very down to business, I like it!” Peter chimed, trying to ignore the utter mess of familial angst he had just witnessed. “Well, you see, the answer to that… isn’t very… uh… simple.”  
Loki raised an eyebrow at this. “I’m listening.”  
Peter coughed awkwardly. “Well, you see, uh… the people in the tower here kept talking about you in these, like, hushed whispers, you know, and I got kind of—well, a lot—curious and so I asked Mr. Stark who you were and he wouldn’t tell me anything, but I followed Thor around and he led me to your room, except he found out I was following him and wouldn’t let me in, and you know how people saying you can’t do something makes you want to do it more? Well, uh, I snuck in with Thor, as you just saw, because, well, I wanted to see you. That’s… that’s it. Well, the short version, anyway.” His face flushed red with embarrassment, realizing that he’d sounded like a curious child. Which, in a way, he still was, but he preferred to think of himself as a Nearly-An-Adult.  
“So I’m just something to ogle at.” Those emerald eyes burned brighter with a furiousness Peter could not even begin to describe. “Like an animal in the zoo.”  
“No! No, that’s not it, I promise!” Peter took a small step backwards as Loki looked like he might just have regained enough energy to go on a rampage.  
“It sure sounds like that’s what it is,” he hissed. “Get out of here. Get out of here before I gut you like a fish and they put me away for good. Get out of here before I put you through so much torment, you’ll-” And he stopped, just like that. The spiderling had thrown himself forward, not in an attempt to shut him up, not trying to tackle him and start a fight, not even with the intention of snapping his neck—Peter had run forward to give Loki a hug.  
This was the weirdest situation Loki had ever been in. Because he was so startled by the suddenness of it, he didn’t even notice that Peter was rambling again until the boy was a good thirty seconds into his anxious chatter.  
“—and you must be so, so lonely, I feel bad about that, I really do. I don’t know what it’s like, having almost everybody around you hate you, but it can’t be great, you can’t possibly enjoy it. I just thought it would be nice to keep you company and I—oh god! What if you have personal space rules?!” Backing off, Peter’s rambling intensified tenfold. “I am so so sorry Mister Loki! I should’ve thought of that before I, uh, before I hugged you, I’m just—I didn’t want you to hurt so much, I’m sorry—”  
“Shut up a second.” Loki commanded. The spiderling fell silent immediately, still wringing his hands in front of him. “Don’t say you’re sorry.”  
“But I am.” Peter spoke timidly, expecting another outburst from the raven-haired man.  
“I don’t care if you are, don’t tell it to me. I hear enough of that sappy mess from my brother.” Loki sniffed indignantly. “I see that you meant no harm by… visiting me. Even so, if Stark or Thor find out you’re in here, you’ll be in trouble. So get.”  
“But…” Peter looked at the door, then to Loki.  
“Now.” Loki gave him a pointed glare.  
Neither of them moved for a moment. Then Peter leaned in for another quick hug and was out the door within the next five seconds.  
Loki was left to muse over the happenings, chewing on a grape with a puzzled frown. That kid was too nice for his own good. And still…  
He thought it was nice to be held, even if the person doing the holding was spouting off nonsense and apologies the entire time, and even if that same person could look into his soul a little deeper than he would like. Maybe, just maybe, he’d like to see this spider-child again.  
Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
